AT THE GATES OF MOSCOW

We will, without fail, hold Moscow.” Marshal Georgy Zhukov was resolute in the autumn of 1941 when asked by the leader of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, if they could realistically defend the Soviet capital. Zhukov’s confidence may have come as a comfort to Stalin, but the Soviet situation looked dire. Since June of that year the Soviet Union had lost vast swathes of territory, suffering crushing defeat after crushing defeat, following a surprise invasion by Nazi Germany. By the beginning of October the Germans’ eastern army, the Ostheer, had once again set its sights on Moscow and devised a plan of conquest under the moniker Operation Typhoon. Army Group Centre – the division of the Ostheer tasked with driving straight at the heart of Soviet Russia – had secured its flanks and was on the march.

Operation Typhoon began with yet more savage victories for the Germans. The month opened with protracted battles near Vyazma and the Bryansk Oblast, which stood between the Germans and their ultimate target. The commander of Army Group Centre, Fedor von Bock, achieved success in part thanks to the arrival of the 2nd Panzer Army, which outflanked the Soviets. The Red Army soldiers were enveloped, but continued to fight bitterly until mid-October, doing their part for the war effort by slowing the German advance to their capital. The commander of the 2nd Panzer Army, Heinz Guderian, had played instrumental roles in the invasions of Poland and France and had recently helped